Pending deal could keep Hollywood nursing home afloat

The Motion Picture & Television Fund is nearing a deal with an as yet unnamed national healthcare provider to keep a struggling Hollywood nursing home from closing.

A deal struck in February between the MPTF and Providence Health, which would have kept the Woodland Hills-based long-term care facility and adjoining acute-care facility running, fell apart over the summer, the Los Angeles Times reported. The facility currently has 33 skilled nursing residents, and 29 residents in an Alzheimer's unit.

Under the new plan, the operating company would assume financial responsibility for the acute-care facility under a separate license and pay to lease hospital beds. The new provider also would pitch in $15 million for a partial remodeling of the LTC facility and the hospital; the MPTF would contribute an additional $10 million via private donations, the newspaper reported.

Drug substitutions saved the government $13 million last year, but more drug substitutions under Medicare Part B would have saved an additional $6 million, the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services concluded in a recent report to Congress.